Javan's brother and his sister Janudo lived together. One day Javana said to his sister:
“Tomorrow morning I’ll go bird hunting, and you stay at home.”
At dawn Javana got up and went into the forest. There he shot several birds, brought them to his sister, and she cooked them. After that, they went to work in the garden, and when night fell, they returned and went to bed.
The next morning Javana again went into the forest to look for birds. Having shot several, he tied them up, hung the bundle on a tree and walked further into the forest, but then a Hiwai-Abere came out of a large tree and said:
[Hiwai-abere is an evil female mythical creature. According to the Papuans, Kiwai, Hiwai-Abere are very fat, they have a large head, a huge belly and short legs. Their fingernails are hard and so sharp that they kill wild pigs with them.]
- Let me carry the birds, Javana.
“Hey,” Javana was surprised, “why did you come here?”
“I came because I am your wife,” Hiwai-Abere answered him.
Javana did not know that she was a Hiwai Abere and not a real woman, so he gave her the shot birds to carry. When they arrived at Javana's hut, Janudo asked her brother:
- Javana, why did you bring this woman to us?
“I don’t need you,” the Hiwai-Abere interrupted her, “I came to my husband, and I have many relatives.”
In fact, Hiwai Abere had no relatives; she lived alone in a tree trunk. Javana said to his sister:
- Let's go to the garden.
They went, and Hiwai-Abere went with them. They did not work, but only picked up bananas and taro and took them home. Janudo began to bake taro, and Hiwai-Abere began to fry the bird, but for Janudo everything was baked well, while Hiwai-Abere's bird meat remained raw. Hiwai-abere kept letting out bad air loudly, and Janudo said to her brother:
- What kind of wife did you bring yourself? This is not a woman, this is an evil spirit.
When it got dark they went to bed, and in the morning Hiwai Abere said to Javana:
- Since you took me as your wife, give your sister as a wife to one of my relatives, I have a lot of them.
The three of them again went to the garden and brought vegetables and fruits from there, and then Javana, as a sign of grief, smeared his face with mud - after all, he had to give his sister for the hiwai abere. He told Janudo:
“Sister, go to where I brought this woman from.” Hiwai-abere took three taro baskets, Janudo took two, and Janudo said to her brother:
- Javana, now we are parting. In my opinion, this is not a real woman, in my opinion, she has no relatives.
Janudo and the Hiwai-Abere set off. Javana took his bow and arrows and wanted to go with them, but Hiwai-Abere said:
- Javana, don’t go - I have a lot of relatives, what if they want to fight and kill you.
Javana remained, and Hiwai-Abere led his sister to the tree in which she lived. Finally they arrived, and then Hiwai-Abere said to the tree:
- Open up!
The tree opened and Janudo entered it. There was no one inside, and when she saw this, she cried bitterly and wailed:
- Javana, this woman deceived us - she said that she had many relatives, but in fact there was no one here. She is an evil spirit.
Then Hiwai Abere told the tree to close, and it closed.
Left alone, Hiwai-Abere ate all the taro that she and the girl had brought, and then climbed the tree in which Janudo was now, sat down over the hole that was at the top, and relieved herself there. After that, she again descended to the ground and went to Javana’s hut, and when there was very little left to go, she ran to the hut and shouted:
- Javana, quickly take your bow and arrows, my relatives are chasing me, they want to kill me!
Javana grabbed his bow and arrows and rushed towards her, but when he ran up to Hiwai Abere, she said to him:
“My brother just turned back - a little more and he would have caught me.”
Javana wanted to chase him, but Hiwai-Abere stopped him:
- Don't go, don't.
Several days passed. Javana thought about his sister all the time, his soul was restless. One day he said to Hiwai Abere:
“You go to the garden, and I’ll kill the birds and come too.” But in fact, he went into the forest to look for his sister there. Meanwhile, Janudo wailed in the tree trunk:
- Javana, my brother, follow my trail, there is no one here, I am alone inside the tree!
When Javana found himself near the tree in which Janudo was, she heard his steps and shouted:
- Javana, is that you?
- Yes, I am! Javana replied. -Where are you, sister?
“I’m here in the tree, the woman you brought put me here.” She has no relatives. She alone ate all the taro that we took for her family, and defecated on me. Bring the ax quickly.
Javana ran for the ax, but the Hiwai-Abere did not see this - she was in the garden. Javana grabbed the ax and returned to the tree. Then Janudo said:
“I’ve been scraping this side for a long time, it’s already thin—that’s where you chop.”
Javana cut a hole in the trunk, and his sister climbed out and said:
“This Hiwai-Abere woman, she deceived you.” They returned home, and Janudo said to her brother:
- Go call this Hiwai-Abere, let her come.
Javana went to the garden and shouted:
- Come here, I stuffed a lot of birds, they are already in the hut! Hiwai-abere heard this and hurried to Javana, but when she approached the hut, Javana shot right through her from the right and left. But Janudo said: “Brother, don’t shoot at her again, I’ll finish her off myself.”
Janudo hit Hiwai Abere on the head with a digging stick, and she screamed as she died:
- I deceived you both - I am a hiwai-abere!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru